Sunday, January 26, 2014

Ring of Honor 1/25/2014 Pittsburgh Review

***NOTE - I typed this up with my phone so there will be some errors***

I did a podcast on this show here:

Big crowd of over 1000, double the crowd of last time. The show started at
7:29. Parking is a mess with few spaces and no signs directing you on
where to go.

ACH and Tadarius Thomas vs Decade

Decade wore pink and black. Crowd popped for TD's capoeira kicks. TD
did a tope con Hilo through the ropes. BJ did the worst giant swing
I've ever seen. It was so slow and got booed. TD hit a half Nelson suplex on Jacobs. Jacobs speared TD through the ropes onto the floor.
Decade got a reverse emerald fusion/reverse bulldog combo for the win on
ACH. The crowd was into it and loved the flying. Decent match.

No Paul London due to a travel issue which got big boos. His opponent, Strong, was out due to injuries.

Hanson vs Ray Rowe

Rowe is a longtime IWC and Pittsburgh area wrestler. Kind of like a
Samoa Joe wrestling wise. Hard hits to start and both men did a double
clothesline to go over to the floor. Rowe tried a tope and his opponent
missed a yakuza from the floor to stop it which he missed anyway. DB
chants for Rowe's opponent. Rowe hit double running knees and a big
German. Big spin slam by Rowe's opponent. Rowe did an awesome Shuji
Kondo lifting double leg slam. Huge Jumbo Tsuruta like backdrops from
both. Rowe caught a spin kick into a great one legged Powerbomb and his
opponent got him soon after with a big slam on Rowe. Great hard
hitting match. Rating ***1/2

5 second ROH countdowns for the TV opening.

The Romantic Touch aka Rhett Titus vs Mike Bennett

Maria told Titus he disgusted her. Maria said women need power in
wrestling and she's not afraid to get it. Second DB chant of the night
with loud "yes" chants. Bennett called the fans sheep. Fans chanted for Punk and he said he was better than the best. Titus did Rick Rude
gyrations at Maria. More when he had MB on the turnbuckles ala Magnum
Tokyo. They fought outside for a bit. MB worked a headlock and crouched
himself sitting on the buckles. RT then banged his head off the
buckles. MB blocked a RT dive by putting Maria in front of him. Then he
hit a super kick.
Maria danced, RT gave her chocolates, got
hit with them then ate an STO+buffalo sleeper combo for the MB win.
Nothing special here and Maria was honestly the highlight. Nothing was
wrong with it but both these guys kind of keep it simple in ring and the
work wasn't much. RT argued with the redheaded announcer, picked her up
and she left.

ROH TV title - Matt Taven vs Jay Lethal vs Tomasso Ciampa

Truth had a full on beard and said Taven killed their lifestyle when he
lost the TV title. Truth told the hoopla hotties to leave. Truth said
hoopla is dead and Taven thanked Truth for getting him the TV title. He
said he outgrew Truth and told truth to hit the bricks. Taven said its
his time now. Taven turned face.

Three way brawl to
start with an ROH chant. Lethal toped both men for a nice pop then toped
both twice more. They threw each other into barricades and Ciampa took
out the mats outside. Ciampa did a running slam on Lethal into the
barricades. Lethal got drop kicked in the face on his rope handspring
spot. Near falls for Ciampa and Taven. Ciampa hadLethal on his
shoulders and Taven did a great TRouble in paradise kick. Ciampa hit a
sitout reverse slam on Taven. Taven hit a frog splash on Lethal for the
near fall. This is awesome chant. Truth talked to Taven at ringside
and tried to give him the book to throw. Lethal knocked Taven and Truth
off and had a pin but the ref didn't see. Truth whacked Tavens leg and
he took a project Ciampa for the Ciampa win. Good match with the crowd
enjoying it. Truth kind of missed Taven on the finish but it was still a
good match with some good moves. Rating:***

Lethal and Ciampa shook hands after.

20 minute intermission

Andrew Everett Vs Cedric Alexander

Bunch of missed kicks and counters from both to start. Cedrick's
opponent did some nice standing flips. Cedrick hit a nasty drop kick to
the opponents back of the head and sent him to the floor. The opponent
did a really cool walk up the knee arm drag that I've never seen before.
High angle back body drop with the opponent barely flipping in time.
Huge kick to the head by CA. Huge springboard ssp to the outside for a
"holy shit" chant. He hit a hurrracanrana and landed him on his head.
Ced had him in the PowerBomb position and then spinned it into a white
noise. 630 into a knee of CA and CA hit a backdrop->back breaker for
the win. Great match. Very exciting and CA's opponent really ruled it.
The 630 block was sick and the SsP to the outside was great. We got a
that was awesome chant after. Rating:***1/2

Strong threw a water bottle at Ced post match.

Kyle O'Reilly vs Kevin Steen

Steen is super over. Steen did a kip up into a drop kick for a huge pop. Steen clobbered Kyle early sending him out. Steen grabbed a fans sign
and held it. Kyle worked over Steen's arm. Steen hit a big lariat
turning Kyle over. Steen hit an apron bomb and a Swanton. Steen got out
of an armbar with a foot on the ropes. Steen was on the top buckle and
kissed KOR then hit a nasty super fishermans buster. Steen put in KOR's
mouthpiece. Steen threw it at him and hit a package pile driver but KOR
got out or Cliff Compton got him out before the three. Steen argued
with Cliff Compton on the outside. Steen the hit the sharpshooter for
the win. Good and smart match with the crowd loving Steen.

Steen called out Compton after and ripped into Compton. Steen dared
Compton to come in and security stopped it. Steen then hit an F5 on a
ref and dumpedCcliff out. Cliff came back and I think splashed Steen
through a table on the outside. Too many people were standing though to
tell

The Briscoes vs Elgin/Chris Hero vs Adam Cole/Matt Hardy

Big F*** you Hardy chants. They announced if someone beats Cole, they
get a title shot. Slow start. Mark went for a leapfrog and ate a
yakuza. Mark has longer hair now and Jay has a Mohawk. Briscoes hit a
big double shoulder tackle. Elgin did his delayed brain buster on
Hardy. Elgin pounded Cole in the corner. Hardy and Cole worked over Jay
for a long time. Mark got the hot tag on Hardy. Hero and Elgin did
double elbows on Mark and we got another Elgin delayed brain buster.
Mark hit a John Woo on Elgin. Then Elgin did a fall away slam on him and
Jay. The Briscoes did a razors edge/cutter combo on Cole. Hardy
eliminated The Briscoes with a twist of fate. Hero did a flipping
cravate neck breaker on Hardy. Hero hit a nasty spinning elbow on Cole.
Elgin choke slammed Cole then flipped him with a lariat. Hero hit a big
yakuza on Cole then hit a electric chair into an elbow for the win and
the title shot. Elgin beat up Hardy after. Long match that dragged and
wasn't that great.

Overall thoughts: Good show with Rowe/Hanson and Everett/Alexander being the highlights. It's good to see ROH finally trying running Pittsburgh and not an hour away. With over 1000+ in attendance, it proved to be a good idea.